Major League Soccer announced the rosters for the upcoming MLS Combine and several of the top players in the draft will not be taking part.
Four Generation adidas players (Perry Kitchen, Zarek Valentin, Zac MacMath and Omar Salgado) will miss the Combine because of U.S. Under-20 national team commitments, while Akron striker Darlington Nagbe will also sit out the Combine for undisclosed reasons.
MLS also revealed the identities of five non-college foreign players who will also be available in the MLS Draft and will take part in the MLS Combine. John Rooney, brother of English star Wayne Rooney, Victor Estupinan (Ecuador), Paolo Cardozo (Honduras), Marlon Ganchozo (Ecuador) and Martin Rivas (Argentina) will take part in the Combine under a new MLS initiative approved by league owners this off-season.
Seven new college players were added to the mix, with Monmouth standout Ryan Kinne being included to the list after inexplicably being left off the initial list. Andy Adlard (Indiana), Charlie Campbell (Louisville), Matt Marcin (Providence), Ben Sippola (Butler), Alex Caskey (Davidson) and Chris Taylor (Tulsa) were the other college players added to the Combine rosters.
Here are the rosters and the match schedule for the MLS Combine, which begins on Saturday in Fort Lauderdale, Florida:
MLS COMBINE ROSTERS & SCHEDULE
TEAM adiZero
Andy Adlard, M, Indiana
Matheus Braga, M, Penn State
Will Bruin, F, Indiana
Charlie Campbell, M, Louisville
Ernesto Carranza, M, Sacramento State
Tommy Drake, M, Clemson
Bilal Duckett, D, Notre Dame
Michael Farfan, M, North Carolina
Josh Ford, GK, UConn
Cole Grossman, M, Duke
Tyler Lassiter, D, North Carolina State
Stephen McCarthy, M, North Carolina
J.T. Murray, D, Louisville
Steven Perry, F, Notre Dame
Indy Smith, D, UNC-Wilmington
Chris Taylor, M, Tulsa
Amani Walker, F, UC-Irvine
TEAM adiPURE
Eddie Ababio, D, North Carolina
Jalil Anibaba, D, North Carolina
Jeff Attinella, GK, South Florida
Philip Bannister, F, Loyola (Md.)
Jeb Brovsky, M, Notre Dame
Alex Caskey, M, Davidson
Jason Herrick, F, Maryland
Hector Jiminez, M, California
Greg King, D, UConn
Brayan Martinez, M, Seton Hall
Dustin McCarty, M, North Carolina
Ashley McInnes, F, Tulsa
Michael Nanchoff, M, Akron
Demitrius Omphroy, D, California
Lebo Pila, M, St. Peter's Prep
John Rooney, F, England
Josue Soto, D, SMU
Curtis Ushedo, D, UAB
TEAM JABULANI
Blake Brettschneider, M, South Carolina
Efrain Burgos, M, Cal-SLO
Paolo Cardozo, M, Uruguay
Billy Cortes, D, Maryland
Juan Cruz, D, SMU
Victor Estupinan, F, Ecuador
Colin Givens, D, Michigan State
Matt Gold, M, Ohio State
Levi Houapeu, F, Maryland-Baltimore County
Jimmy Maurer, GK, South Carolina
Justin Meram, F, Michigan
Bryan Meredith, GK, Monmouth
Jon Okafor, M, Brown
Martin Rivas, M, Argentina
C.J. Sapong, F, James Madison
Kofi Sarkodie, D, Akron
Bobby Warshaw, D, Stanford
Konrad Warzycha, M, Ohio State
TEAM aDIPOWER
Anthony Ampaipitakwong, M, Akron
Rich Balchan, D/M, Indiana
J.C. Banks, M, Wisconsin-Green Bay
Michael Boxall, D, UCSB
Servando Carrasco, M, California
Marlon Ganchozo, M, Ecuador
Corey Hertzog, F, Penn State
Daniel Keat, M, Dartmouth
Ryan Kinne, M, Monmouth
Chris Korb, D, Akron
Matt Marcin, M, Providence
David Paul, F, California
Karl Reddick, M, Boston College
Ben Sippola, M, Butler
A.J. Soares, D, California
Joe Willis, GK, Denver
————-
MATCH SCHEDULE
SATURDAY
1:45pm- AdiPower vs AdiPure
3:30pm- Jabulani vs AdiZero
MONDAY
11:15am- AdiPure vs. Jabulani
1pm- AdiPower vs. AdiZero
TUESDAY
11:15am- AdiPower vs. Jabulani
1pm- AdiPure vs. AdiZero
———-
MLS Combine matches are open to the public. MLS is charging $10 a day for fans looking to attend Combine matches.
Curious as to why they put three of the 5 foriegn players on the Jabulani Team?
This past year (2010), in college soccer, the Louisville Cardinals had an incredible season! I just did not have the chance to watch many of their games.
I was wondering if anyone could tell me how they lined up tactically. I do know that these were the 11 most used players (30-Andre Boudreaux GK, 17-Brock Granger, 12-Chase Rodgers, 23-J.T. Murray, 3-Paolo DelPiccolo, 24-Austin Berry, 14-Nick DeLeon, 2-Charlie Campbell, 9-Colin Rolfe, 19-Kenney Walker & 22-Dylan Mares), and these were the next 5 who saw significant playing time (11-Aaron Horton, 5-Andrew Farrell, 4-Ryan Smith, 10-Buck Tufty & 13-Josh Lipka).
Thanks in advance.
I am curious about this arrangement. I don’t understand why these players aren’t making deals with an interested team. All I can surmise is that they agreed to be bound by the draft in exchange for the opportunity to showcase themselves at the Combine. It’s especially curious in the case of Rivas, who has already played in friendlies for both DC United and the Union. You would think one of those teams would have seen enough to put in a discovery claim and sign him. If not, then you have to wonder what he thinks he’ll prove at the Combine.
It’s not a lot of info, but the MLS insider blog has a short article about them and the history of inviting non-college players.
Anyone know anything about the foreign players invited, or this new foreigner initiative from the league?
martin rivas was on trial with philly union this summer and play in the manchester united friendly. today’s fun fact is brought to you by the river end.
SBI – there were 7 new college players added (Alex Caskey – Davidson midfielder – is the missing one from your article).
I will invite myself to join team AdiPose for the Combine 😛
BTW — thanks (Ives and/or staff) for fixing the links!
Team AdiPower looks beastly- two big time CBs, Kinne and Amp at M and then Herzog at F.
I am disappointed the U20s were left out- seems like bad precedent- now future GAs can say well you let these guys not come last year- what if Sean Johnson doesn’t show up last year, he had a miserable combine and fell to the 4th round.
I know one DIII player that I’ve heard is going, but I’m not going to say anything about it until I know for a fact that it is official. He was a 3-year All-American and was a Third Team All-American this past season.
not really, it’s the inherent Red Bulls bias on this here blog (which makes complete sense, since Ives was a Metro/RB beat writer when the previous incarnation of this site was born, and retains a heavy New Jersey influence among commentators. the place has gone national, but it’s still Jersey at the root. if you were here two years ago for the do they/don’t they sign Kassell out of the Academy discussions…(also why you heard waaay too much about Dilly Duka)
What is the latest day that a player can be added? Beattie from NKU deserves an invite.
I heard there were 88 slots for this year’s combine. If that is true, then it appears there are still some spots open. At the same time we have not heard about the DII, DIII and NAIA invitees. Does anyone know if the 88 spots are true?
Think Ababio will be a nice surprise and do very well. Big strong kid with a great touch. Good buddy of jeremy hall.
yeah your 100% wrong with that. there is usually 1 or 2 of those d2, 3, and naia players invited. kid from redlands(d3) got invited i believe 2 or 3 years ago and got drafted and signed with colorado. pascal millien out of utampa (d2) showed well last year (i believe he brought his own ball to play with during each game tho). suprised steven beattie out of northern kentucky was left out. 2 time national player of the year, believe chicago fire and maybe others were taking looks at him at the final 4
Not knocking you at all but I don’t think I’ve heard half as many questions about any other player in college soccer. Is he really that good (never seen him play)?
I believe they’ll be streaming on MLSsoccer.com, but hopefully they have a decent camera placement and/or some knowledgeable commentators or else it’ll be touch to watch.
What channel are these games going to be on?
Great news! I always wondered why they didn’t do this for past combines.
More importantly, MLS is streaming all of the combine games live on their website!
Ives,
What have you heard about Matt Kassel’s situation with Maryland? Many people projected that this would be his last season at Maryland. Has he decided to stay for his final season of eligibilty, or is there still talk of NYRB signing him?
I’m not 100% sure but I believe you have to be a D1 player to participate in the combine.
No Division II, III or NAIA players???
The John Rooney combine news is a-buzz on today’s BBC live-text right now…
“1940: And here’s a bit of interesting/pointless (delete as applicable) info for you if you’re a fan of the Rooney clan – John Rooney, younger brother of England and Manchester United forward Wayne, will take part in trials for Major League Soccer from Saturday, aiming to find a deal alongside David Beckham in the North American league. The 20-year-old is an attacking midfielder, apparently. Any puns for me?”
good for Kinne. I will never understand why he was left off the roster in the first place.